There are various smells to be encountered on a public bus. In the early AM you smell coffee, shampoo, perfume (from the receptionist and hospital desk worker ladies) and even smoke from the die hard chain smokers.
The afternoon can be quite different. Like any transit system you have a range of riders. The morning has the daily work commuters: County workers, hospital employees, students and such. The afternoon brings out the students again but usually the skills center students, the homeless, the disabled and then a roving group of generally obnoxious young adults.
The smells of the afternoon usually center on 2 things. Cigarettes and B.O. Not quite sure if they are related but they sure seem to go together. Today I was running late and managed to arrive at the bus with only a few minutes left to spare before departure. Like any other regular commuter I have my "preferred" seat locations. Today they were all taken and I was subjected to sit towards the back....not my favorite but neither is not being able to look out the window which makes me car/bus sick.
Some people have good excuses for the B.O. If your homeless you don't have many opportunities for cleaning up really well. I know that the YMCA in Pt. Angeles has times that it offers showers to the homeless but other then that it would be hard to stay clean. Most of them manage to stay fairly clean. Many of the handicap and elderly seem to have a more difficult time with cleanliness. This is sad to me. With stained clothing and greasy hair you know that they are not bathing on a regular basis.
The worst for me is the smoke. Its such an addicting habit that eats your money, health and looks its hard to understand the draw. To see and hear the obnoxious ones that complain about life, jobs and money while using colorful "F" filled language is perturbing to say the least.
Let's just say....today was a gum sort of day.
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